The rot of Disney’s creative bankruptcy has infected all aspects of its empire. Pixar have fallen to a new, humiliating low as their newest movie, Elemental, is set to be the WORST PERFORMING FILM at the box office in the studio’s 28-year history.
It’s only a matter of time behind the Grim Reaper takes his scythe to Pixar’s bedroom door.
In what has to be the most humiliating moment for the studio to date, Pixar’s latest film $200M film, Elemental, is shaping up to be the worst box office performer in the studio’s history as the film garnered just $30M at its box office debut weekend. And, even though I’m really sad that such a beloved studio is suffering, it only makes sense given how it’s been handled in recent years.
I have one quote that sums up how Disney and especially Pixar have been handled in the last six years: “I don’t think of Pixar as making children’s programming, so I’m not sure I can answer with any authority.”
Who said this quote? Pixar CEO Pete Docter. What was the question asked of him? A Hollywood Reporter journalist (I left a link to the full interview here and down below) asked, “How has the children’s storytelling landscape changed over the past decade? Do kids fundamentally engage with Pixar stories differently, or not?”
Why is this important? Because it shows how OUT OF TOUCH these buffoons over at Disney, Pixar, etc. really are.
How can the very CEO of Pixar, the world’s most famous animated movie studio and producer, say that the company he oversees does not provide “children’s programming”? Has he honestly been living under a rock these last 30+ years and not seen a single Disney or Pixar-related product?
THE VERY FOUNDATION of Disney and Pixar is to provide resourceful, fun, engaging, meaningful, thoughtful, impactful, emotional, and intelligent programs, whether they are movies, T.V. shows, animated shorts, animated films, theme parks, toys, etc., for children (and adults too, but children take priority).
How do I know this? Oh, it’s only because Walt Disney himself, the very founder of Disney, said as much on numerous occasions.
And this quote, which is one of his most famous, proves it, “I don’t believe in playing down to children, either in life or in motion pictures. I didn’t treat my own youngsters like fragile flowers, and I think no parent should. Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature.”
Sure, Disney never made a “kid’s movie”, but he always made his movies for kids to enjoy, understand, learn, and grow from as they journeyed from adolescences into adulthood.
I understand what Docter is trying to say (at least I think I do) as he’s implying Pixar is looking to make products that promote thought, growth, responsibility, reason, intelligence, morality, etc. (which is what Disney was looking to do for children too) for all people, but he and Pixar are going about it all wrong with these crap films.
Elemental’s $30M or so opening box office weekend haul was the 2nd lowest in the studio’s history as it only surpassed Toy Story 1…which was the very first movie made by Pixar.
And, seeing how the reviews on Elemental place the movie anywhere from a 3.5/10 to a 7.5/10 (depending on where you trust your reviews), this isn’t a franchise with the ability to grow 4 all-time great movies from.
Nonetheless, Elemental failing isn’t a one-off thing as the last three Pixar films, Lightyear, Onward, and now Elemental all failed to bring in a profit from the box office for the studio…a feat thought to be impossible just a decade ago.
(Pixar Animated Studios/Disney-Elemental-Official Trailer)
Truthfully, Elemental isn’t a bad movie per say, yet it’s also not a good one. And it most certainly isn’t a film of Pixar, Disney, or Walt Disney’s high standards.
But, sadly, that’s been the trend of nearly every single Disney project: a bland, uninspired film looking only to reap a few hundred million from the box office and its own fans before getting throw out in the garbage can of pop culture irrelevancy. Rinse and repeat.
There’s no creativity, ingenuity, hopefulness, imagination, honor, courage, responsibilty, or any other meaningful life lessons applied to these films. It’s just soulless corporate garbage.
And that’s the kind of soullessness that Walt Disney not only vehemently fought against in Disney’s early films, but also the kind of soullessness that destroys companies built upon even the purest of foundations.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Pixar Animated Studios) (Elemental | Official Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Disney/Pixar Animated Studios) (Elemental | Official Trailer – YouTube)
Other Sources: (The Hollywood Reporter) (Pixar’s Pete Docter on Early Influences, Studio’s Fan Reactions – The Hollywood Reporter)
